Dana growled and slammed her fist into the steering wheel. She had the worst luck in the world and it was starting to tick her off. She flicked on her phone with the intention of finding a tow truck. She hadn't looked at her updates all night in her nervous preparation for her escape. When she flicked her finger over the start button, she noticed something on the screen that took her breath away.
The text said, "Congratulations, we found your fated mate."
Dana had signed up for Mate.com three years ago, before she had come to live with the Updikes. In all that time, her mate had never been found. It was odd for a female shifter to go mateless for so long. Since there were five times as many male shifters as females, females often had the easiest time finding someone to settle down with. No such luck for Dana.
But now, her luck seemed to be changing. She clicked on the screen as quickly as her fingers could smash against the glass and brought up the link to Mate.com. The profile of her mate opened on the screen, and she almost dropped her phone. The man's profile name was Mechanic Bear, and he was the cutest guy she'd ever seen in her life. Something about him seemed so familiar. She couldn't quite place it.
Even if she had met her mate before, the mating bite that Brandon Updike had given her would have masked the pheromones and the intuitive attraction that fated mates felt for each other. She was so angry she wanted to scream.
Her mate was handsome, tall and athletic. Blue eyes and blond hair, with broad shoulders that tapered into a narrow waist. A tattoo of a firebird stretched across his bare chest and the cutest little smirk she'd ever seen lit up his face. The man looked like something out of a Hollywood movie, and she knew she had to meet him.
She clicked the “chat now” button on the Mate.com app and brought up the text screen. She bit her lip and thought about what to say. His profile said he lived on Fate Mountain and worked as a mechanic. His favorite hobby was motocross. If her mate lived on Fate Mountain, she would never be able to get away from the Updikes. They would find her, hunt her down, and force her back into their mansion as their servant. She would never let that happen.
Mechanic Bear was a grizzly shifter and she knew a grizzly could take out ten or more hyenas in shifted form. Maybe he could protect her. It did seem a lot to ask. Her problem with the hyenas was her own, and she didn't want to bring her mate into it. It was a lot of baggage to expect a new mate to deal with. But her curiosity and her need for love won out. She began to type in the text bar.
"Hi, Mechanic Bear," she typed. "I think I'm in need of your skill set. My car is broken down on Highway 99, headed west into Portland. Could you come help me?"
She pressed send and sat back. It was very early morning and she didn't expect him to be up and about yet. She groaned at herself for even trying. It was so inappropriate, she didn't even know what to think. Maybe she should just get out of the car and hitchhike into town.
As a fox shifter, she wasn't strong like a grizzly, but she still had sharp pointy teeth. She wasn't afraid of hitchhiking with a human, or anything else for that matter. After living with the Updikes for two years, her standards had changed quite a bit from when she was a teenager. Nothing could bother her, and practically nothing could scare her.
She climbed out of the car, feeling like an idiot. She slung her purse over her shoulder, grabbed her suitcase, and stood in front of her car with her thumb out. There were few cars on the road this early in the morning and nobody had even passed since she had broken down.
She stood on the side of the road looking from east to west and back again, wondering if anyone would even drive by. Maybe this hitchhiking idea wasn’t a very good one. She was about to give up and roll her suitcase back to Fate Mountain Village when a tow truck came driving down the highway toward her. Her luck was definitely changing. If she could flag this tow truck down, then maybe she could get the car towed and take a bus into the city.
When the tow truck pulled up beside her car and stopped, she realized that she was even luckier than she had thought. The door swung open and out stepped Mechanic Bear, his sky-blue eyes shining and his face unreadable. He crossed the distance between them and stood before her. Neither of them spoke as a car zoomed by, heading east. The wind ruffled through her hair and blew around her shoulders.
Mechanic Bear cleared his throat and reached out to offer his hand. As soon as she touched him, a spark of desire and recognition ignited between them. The mask over her instincts, that Brandon's bite had caused, evaporated, and she knew that she was staring at her mate.
"I'm Jessie Kincaid," he said in a low, growling voice.
She bit her lip, unsure of how to respond. Then she gulped and remembered herself. "I'm Dana Myers," she said. "It's so nice to meet you. I think we've met before."
"How could we have met before?" Jessie asked. “And not know we were fated?”
"Brandon Updike gave me a mating bite. It messed up my instincts and kept me attached to the Updike family, until today."
Jessie squeezed her hand as his eyes glowed yellow and his grizzly canines extended in his mouth. He growled and let go of her hand.
"I can't imagine a shifter doing that to another shifter. I will end him.”
"I need to get off the road and out of sight,” Dana said, changing the subject.
"Why were you with the Updikes?"
"I've been serving as their domestic servant for the last two years. My fox pack traded me for a debt that they owed the hyena clan.”
"The Updikes are a scourge on the shifter world. I want nothing more than to see them brought down," Jessie said.
“I’d have to agree with you on that,” Dana said.
“I remember you now. You wore that French maid uniform," he said, recognition sparking in his eyes.
"That's me." He was a Kincaid. She felt a flash of recognition. "Now I remember when I saw you. You came out to the mansion two years ago when I first started working there."
"That must've been it.”
“Do you think you can fix my car?" she asked.
"Of course. Forgive my distraction. It's not every day that I meet my fated mate… for the second time."
"Perfectly understandable,” she said, looking around nervously.
She knew they needed to get out of here as fast as possible. She was driving a stolen car from the hyena pack who claimed to own her. Standing on the side of the road, this close to their mansion, was not a good idea. Even though Jessie was now here and knew that he was her mate, the possibility of them coming back for her was still high. She also didn't want Jessie to get involved with the Updikes any more than he had to.
"I'll hitch the car up to the tow truck and you can ride back to the Timber Bear Ranch with me. I have a shop there. I can fix it.”
"Great," she said, not sure if that was really a good idea.
At least the car would be off the side of the road, and she would be out of sight. She had planned to go down the mountain into Portland and start a new life. But going to the Timber Bear Ranch was as good a solution as any, for now. Plus, she would get to spend time with her fated mate.
Dana had wanted a mate for as long as she could remember. She had always loved babies and had always wanted a family more than anything.
When she’d lost her parents at ten, something important had died with them. A sense of safety and belonging and acceptance that she'd never felt anywhere else. She wanted to get that back and she wondered if she could with Jessie. He was panty-meltingly gorgeous, built like an athlete, smart, and from what she understood about the Kincaids, rich. For some reason, he just didn't seem that into her. She couldn't quite place it, and it made her feel bad.
She stood back and watched him as he attached her stolen car to the tow truck. His deft hands and strong arms made quick work of the project, and she was impressed. She'd never found mechanics as sexy as she did in that moment.
He opened the passenger side of his truck and she climbed inside. After getting behind the wheel, he found a place to
turn around and head toward Fate Mountain Village. Before he reached town, he took a turn off the highway and drove up a gravel driveway.
Jessie parked in front of a large machine shop positioned between several houses. Dana hopped out of the truck and looked around, inspecting the property.
The Updikes talked about how much they hated the Kincaids all the time. Brandon and Chuck were pissed as hell that the Kincaids had found the goldmine on their property. The Updikes were always looking for easy money like that, and they’d wanted to buy the Timber Bear Ranch at a government auction. They knew about the goldmine from before Hank Kincaid had passed away. They’d come out to prospect the place for repayment of Hank’s gambling debt. But Leland had found the mine, by chance, and now the Kincaids were swimming in gold.
Dana had never been a greedy woman. All she wanted was to love and be loved, but the Timber Bear Ranch seemed like a lovely place to live. Jessie unhitched her stolen car and put it into the machine shop. She watched him carefully pop the hood of the car. Then he looked up at her with embarrassment in his eyes.
“Why don't I take you inside. You can relax while I work on the car," he said.
"That sounds great," she said. “I would love to see where you live.”
He guided her to the front door of a small log cabin. Inside was decorated in a rustic and masculine fashion. She had been living with the Updikes for the last two years and they had the worst taste she had ever seen. But Jessie’s simple decorating, in the two-bedroom bachelor pad, suited him just right. There was a line of motocross trophies across the mantle and she walked to the fireplace to inspect them.
“Are you a professional motocross racer?" she asked.
"I was for a while. But I keep it part-time now. To be pro I'd have to travel and that would mean leaving the Timber Bear Ranch and my family."
"You're very loyal," she observed.
"Being loyal to your family is more important than anything," Jessie said.
Dana thought about that for a minute. She had been loyal to her family. Even though they had sold her down the river. But now that her great uncle was gone, she didn't feel any of that loyalty anymore. She felt loyalty to her parents, even though they had been gone for twelve years. She would never forget them.
"Can I get you something to drink?" Jessie asked.
"Yes, please," Dana said.
Dana watched Jessie over the counter as he swung open the refrigerator and looked inside.
"Would you like soda or bottled water?" he asked.
"Do you have any coffee?" she asked.
Chapter 3
Jessie made coffee on autopilot. Finding his mate had thrown him for a loop and he was having a hard time recovering from the shock. Dana was more amazing than he ever could have imagined.
She was beautiful, strong, and intelligent and those were just the things that he’d noticed about her in the hour since they’d met. He couldn't imagine how wonderful she would be after he got to know her better.
Alongside his elation, he was filled with rage at the idea of the Updikes holding his mate hostage, all the while masking her scent from him with an illicit mating bite. As the coffee percolated he turned back to Dana and asked if she was hungry.
"I could eat something, but I don't want you to go to any trouble," she said.
"It's no trouble at all."
Jessie hated that she felt she was imposing on him after everything she'd been through. All this time, he had been telling himself he didn't want a mate and all that time his mate had needed him to save her. Instead of him being there for her, she’d had to save herself.
"I have eggs and bacon and toast if that sounds good," he said.
"That sounds absolutely perfect."
Jessie began pulling everything from the fridge and cabinets. He put a pan on the stove and sprinkled the black surface with oil. He flipped on the heat, and tried to get his heart rate under control. As the youngest in the Kincaid family, he was known for being impulsive and free-spirited. He was feeling anything but that, right now. His emotions clashed in his chest like a heart attack.
Everything he’d said to his family about not wanting a mate had gone out the window the moment he’d met her. As many shifters said, fate has a way of changing your mind. One look at Dana and his mind had certainly been changed. When the coffee finished brewing, he poured her a cup and fixed it how she liked it, with cream and sugar.
As he cracked eggs into the pan and slid slices of bacon into a second, he vowed right then and there that he would do everything in his power to protect his mate from now on.
"Why did you leave the Updikes now, after so long?"
"They threatened to hurt my great uncle if I left. I’d seen enough to know they weren’t joking around. Last week my great uncle passed away. I've been saving coins and bills I found while cleaning. I have over a thousand dollars now. Last night, the entire pack got hammered and passed out all over the mansion. It was my chance, so I took it. But with my luck, the car I stole broke down on the side of the road."
"That's a stolen car?" Jessie said, raising an eyebrow.
“It was my only option. I took the chance when it presented itself. I was going to report the car lost when I made it to Portland. I figured the Updikes owed me that much."
"I can see where you're coming from," Jessie said.
He meant it. She had every right to take the car and drive into the city. They had been holding her hostage with threats for over two years as an unpaid laborer. She deserved much more than borrowing a car for a trip into the city.
"You don't know how relieved I am that you understand," Dana said with a smile.
Jessie slid eggs and bacon onto a plate and poured her another cup of coffee.
"I can't believe what a miracle it is that you came and saved me on the side of the road," Dana said. "They say fate works in mysterious ways."
Jessie ate a piece of bacon and smiled. He had to agree that the meeting was almost miraculous. He had only found her on Mate.com the night before. Then she’d texted him early that morning, saying she needed a mechanic.
"I know. We are very lucky to have found each other right now," Jessie said, feeling philosophical.
"You're telling me," Dana said shoving a strip of bacon in her mouth.
"I'm going to start working on your car so we can get all this taken care of as soon as possible."
"Taken care of?" Dana asked.
"With the Updikes. We need to return the car and make sure they never bother you again."
"Oh that," Dana said, deflating.
"You seem tired," Jessie said. "Why don't you finish eating breakfast and then rest in the living room or the spare bedroom. Or in my bedroom," Jessie said feeling like a dork for the first time in his life.
Jessie usually had a way with women, but with his fated mate, he was feeling over eager and instantly devoted. He wanted to please her and fulfill all her desires. Usually he was a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” kind of guy. Not that he disrespected women, but a lot of the girls nowadays enjoyed playing the field as much as he did. He didn't feel bad about it. In fact, he was on several other social media dating sites that catered to such things. He always felt it was a harmless pastime to fill the void and fulfill his needs.
With Dana, it was a whole different story. He wanted to know everything about her. He wanted to spend precious, tender moments doing everything he could to make her smile. She sat eating breakfast at the breakfast bar, a smile on her face but worry in the corners of her eyes.
He had to get out and fix the car. The feelings raging inside him were too confusing to feel all at once. As much as he wanted to be with her, he had to get away. Dana was a fox shifter, and he knew that she was having a similar reaction to him. Unlike human females, female shifters automatically recognized their fated mates. That was when repugnant hyenas weren't interfering with illicit mating bites.
"I hope you’ll be okay here by yourself for a while," he said.
&nbs
p; He turned to her, patting her arm with his hand, noticing the oil in the cuticles of his fingernails.
"Thanks," she said looking up at him with trusting eyes.
He left the house, his chin sets with determination. He walked across the yard to the machine shop and opened the hood of her car. He was able to quickly determine that the fan belt had snapped. He fixed the problem and closed the hood of the car. As he passed the driver’s side door, he noticed that the tire was flat. He knelt and found a nail deep in the rubber. He stood and headed to the trunk. When he popped the trunk, Jessie nearly fell on his ass.
"What the hell?" he stammered.
The man lying in the trunk of Dana's car had been shot through the chest and lay in a pool of blood. It stained his white tracksuit dark red. Jessie staggered backwards and gasped at the horrific sight. Chuck Updike lay dead in the trunk of the stolen car. There was no mistaking his pointy hyena face.
How had the dead body of Chuck Updike wound up in Dana's trunk? He walked back to the body and looked over it again. He’d clearly been shot. But how? And by whom?
He knew he had to call the authorities. But first he wanted to ask Dana if she knew anything about it. Everything in him wanted to trust her. But he couldn't take for granted the fact that he didn't know her. They’d just met and she’d been living with the Updikes all this time. Maybe she had snapped and done something she hadn’t meant to. Maybe there was something more to it.
Ultimately Jessie believed she had nothing to do with it. But he wanted her to be the first to know what he’d found. She was his mate after all.
He closed the trunk and slowly walked back to the house, his mood dark in the bright summer sunshine. Inside, Dana sat on the couch with her feet up under her, watching a historical melodrama on public television.
"Why do you look as if you’ve seen a ghost?"
"Not exactly a ghost."
"What do you mean?" Dana asked, standing from the couch.